If you are, or you know someone who enjoys just taking a moment to just look up and watch the clouds roll across the sky on a beautiful afternoon but can’t find the time. Then I’m going to show you just how easy it is to make your very own “Happy Little Cloud.” These work great as a night light in a kids room, decor for mood lighting, a relaxing focal point for you to unwind, or even party lighting! You’ll enjoy this project. So let’s get started!

Supplies

Clear plastic Bottles or jugs.
Polyester fill
Low Temp Glue Gun
LED light strip “battery operated”
Fishing line “50lb test at least to handle weight”
Scissors
Drill
1” Spade or paddle bit, or a hole saw

Step 1: Figuring Your Size and Design

Your gonna start by figuring out how big do you want your cloud to be. The one I have here is about 3 feet long. It’s impressive, but you want to size it for your needs. Now clouds aren’t all the same so set up your bottles how you imagine you want your cloud to look like. Keep in mind that you will be needing to cut holes thru all of them to run an led strip thru them. Also I used a large mouth bottle in the middle to allow my battery pack to sit on top of when all done. You can use packing tape if you have to for mounting the pack, but let’s wait to do that later.

Step 2: Cut and Glue

Now that you figured your shape and size, mark your bottles so you know where they are matching up at. Now it’s time to get out your scissors and cut holes in each bottle. Your cutting holes so you will be able to allow the LED strip to be run thru from end to end so make them large enough to make it easy on yourself when you do this or else you may need to start all over. Now that your holes are cut your going to glue your bottles together. Some bottles don’t match up to well but that’s ok, I started glueing in a back and forth style that acted like stitching and kept going till it had a good strong bond. Once all pieces are glued and it’s good and sturdy you can move on to the next step of running the LED strip thru the piece.

Step 3: LED Lighting Install

There really isn’t a right or wrong way of doing it. Hopefully you already have decided on what lights you want because there are so many different LED lights out there and what they can do. I went with battery operated because I didn’t want my cloud to have any cords running up to it, so it absolutely looks as if it is floating in mid air. 1st I would power up your lights to make sure that they are in good working order I ended up using a metal coat hanger that I sacrificed and turned into a long fish to help feed the led strip thru all the bottles. It took some time so be patient. Once you have it in turn it on to make sure it’s still working.

Step 4: Fishing Line Hangers

This is just a quick last minute step before you start applying the poly fill. You’ll want to figure out how low you want your Cloud hanging from the ceiling and where to apply the line to your project to make your cloud not appear as if it’s tilting. I ran line in 2 places “ I would suggest doing this” and adjusted accordingly to keep it symmetrical with the ceiling. 50lb test was the strength of line I used and it’s holding strong. Tie a knot around the bottle with each individual at least once and then tie a good knot into it to allow a giant loop to hook it onto the ceiling. Repeat with second hanging line. Now hold up your Cloud and make sure it will hang straight. Onto the final step of making your Happy Little Cloud!

Step 5: Happy Little Cloud Design

This is where you let your imagination run. Maybe even step outside for a minute and look at the clouds and pick one out, because now your gonna make it come to life! Grab your poly fill. I ended up buying a 5lb bag and now I can probably retire and make clouds for the whole town. This stuff goes a long way. They sell 32oz. bag for around $7.00 so that should be plenty. I decided to grab a softball to about a baseball size at a time of poly and just started glueing them. As I went along I was also adding a layer here and there to give it depth. Just make sure you get all the plastics covered or you may see the LED lights when you turn it on. Take your time and have fun.

Step 6: Your Very Own Cloud

Now that your all done all you need to do is go hang it and sit back and enjoy. I hope you like my tutorial and please vote for me on the LED light sweepstakes. Thank you and enjoy!